Closed Stations Journey quiz

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Great Broughton

 

[Calthrop]

Linefoot (M.&C.)

 

[Whistler40145]

Linefoot

 

[Whistler40145]

Dearham

 

[backontrack]

Bullgill

 

[Whistler40145]

Arkleby

 

[backontrack]

Brayton

 

[Whistler40145]

Bromfield

 

[backontrack]

Abbey Junction

 

[Whistler40145]

Whitrigg

 

[Calthrop]

Sleightholme

 

[Whistler40145]

Did I post the wrong station?

 

[Calthrop]

@Whistler40145 : a "simulpost". Sleightholme -- per my source, between Abbey Jun. and Whitrigg -- closed very long ago; its existence imaginably in doubt, even? What to do?

Edit: I originally got Sleightholme from Dewick's atlas; Wikipedia concurs in its having existed, in the abovementioned location.

 

[Whistler40145]

Whitrigg

 

[Calthrop]

On we go -- Bowness

 

[Whistler40145]

Annan Shawhill?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sleightholme

Sorry, but that station is on the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, which is not on this journey.

Sleightholme could be described as a station on the line of the Solway Junction Railway. if one were to invoke running powers by the Solway Junction Railway over the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway. I cannot trace ever using such running powers on this quiz since its inception in 2011. Sleightholme was indeed a short-lived station that when appearing in the 1856 Bradshaw timetable for the first time in September 1856, it was as an entry of "Saturdays only" and it last appeared in the 1857 Bradshaw timetable in June 1857. I read that by 1866, no trace of this station could be seen on Ordnance Survey maps.

 

[Whistler40145]

Was Whitrigg correct?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Annan Shawhill?

That station is past the junction we needed to take to access the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Was Whitrigg correct?

Indeed it was.

 

[Calthrop]

Sorry, but that station is on the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, which is not on this journey.

Do we not travel ("running powers" situation) along a stretch of the Carlisle & Silloth Bay; between Abbey Jun., and the Solway Junction Ry. / C & SB divergence a little before Kirkbride -- which stretch includes Sleightholme? Or am I being altogether wrong-headed here?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

On we go -- Bowness

Powfoot Halt

 

[Whistler40145]

Cummertrees

 

[backontrack]

Sleightholme

This is the correct station after Abbey Junction.

There are conflicting sources about the location of Sleightholme station – especially on Wikipedia, where the station appears on the C&SBR route diagram but is omitted from the Solway Junction route diagram. There was only ever one station with the nam of Sleightholme; it served the settlement of Newton Arlosh a little to the north. The matter is resolved upon consulting this six-inch map preserved on the National Library of Scotland website; the site of Sleightholme station is proven to lie between Abbey Junction and the junction of the C&SBR and the Solway Junction Rlwy just to the southwest of Kirkbride. In addition, Google Maps corroborates the co-ordinates of Sleightholme station as given by its Wikipedia page; not only does the cited location lie just to the northwest of a farmstead that lay in an area named on the NLS's six-inch map as 'Sleightholme' (here are matching screenshots),



but also a screenshot of the Streetview mode taken from the bridge over the old railway alignment depicts something that I believe to be the site of the old station at Sleightholme (demonstrated below).

Do we not travel ("running powers" situation) along a stretch of the Carlisle & Silloth Bay; between Abbey Jun., and the Solway Junction Ry. / C & SB divergence a little before Kirkbride -- which stretch includes Sleightholme?

I believe you are correct.

All evidence points to Sleightholme being located between Abbey Junction and Kirkbride Junction rather than being north of the latter; therefore, for future reference, I believe that the correct order of stations would be Abbey Junction > Sleightholme > Whitrigg. I hope this helps.

 

[backontrack]

Cummertrees

Ruthwell

 

[Calthrop]

Racks

 

[backontrack]

I think maybe Holytown?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I think maybe Holytown?

We did in fact pass through the 1st station of Holytown when we were in the North Lanarkshire area of the Caledonian Railway Main Line.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I think the answer lies in the final part of the name of the station that commences with Holy...

In the Dumfries area, there once was a station that closed with the name of Holywood, which was opened under the name of Killylung on 15th October 1849, was renamed Holywood on 28th October 1850 and closed on 26th September 1949.

 

[backontrack]

We did in fact pass through the 1st station of Holytown when we were in the North Lanarkshire area of the Caledonian Railway Main Line.

Ah, my apologies. I meant to say:

Holywood

Thanks Paul. A nice quirk that this leg takes in both Holytown and Holywood!

For what it's worth, this leg has been very interesting. I've recently been interested in the railways of West Cumbria – in particular the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Junction Railway – so it was engaging to revisit these places. It was also interesting to cross the Solway Firth back into Scotland.

Edit: beaten to it!